Month: March 2013

by Jay Walljasper, People for Bikes
It’s always a pleasure when scientific studies confirm your own long-held opinions, especially when what you think flies in the face of all conventional wisdom.
For instance, who knew that chocolate éclairs and triple fudge caramel brownies actually contain fewer calories than a 12-ounce glass of skim milk? Or that every $1000 you spend on lavish vacations before the age of 65 will, over the long run, provide you with more retirement income than if you’d stashed that same $1000 in a savings account?
Well, to be honest, I made up the fact about the éclairs. And the one about vacations too.
But here’s bona fide scholarly research that excites me in the same way: Biking for transportation appears more helpful in losing weight and promoting health than working out at the gym.
This means I can spend less time wearing a grimace as I endure mind-numbing exercise routines at the Y—and more time wearing a smile as I bike to work, shopping and social events. Just what I always thought.
But hey, don’t take my word for it. According to Australian epidemiologist Takemi Sugiyama, lead author of a recent study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, “Commuting is a relevant health behavior even for those who are sufficiently active in their leisure time.”
…
https://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/entry/good_news_health_studies_show_bike_commuting_is_one_of_the_best_ways_to_sta

Via Leisure Trends Group

-> "The goal for pavement widths on walkable streets is to reduce the pavement in order to encourage slower movements. Conventional street standards are typically designed for a higher ‘design speed’ than the intended ‘posted speed’. Watch for this. Excessive width encourages vehicles to drive in excess of the design speed (much less the posted speed) to the detriment of walkability, bikeability, and ultimately the safety of vehicles themselves. For urban thoroughfares, the design speed should be matched to the posted speed…"
— Geoff Dyer, Better! Cities & Towns
https://bit.ly/Ynz6xU
-> "Who ranks? Cars rank. The sidewalks never get plowed by our elected, tax-supported city government. Clearly it’s not our priority to make it easy to walk. Even though walking is better for our bodies and our planet, and in cities when coupled with public transit it’s the easiest, cheapest, healthiest and overall best way to get around…"
— John Kassel, Conservation Law Foundation
https://bit.ly/15I0Sey
from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.

-> According to a Mar. 4th NPR story, "About 69 percent of American adults are overweight or obese, and more than four in five people say they are worried about obesity as a public health problem. But a recent poll conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health revealed a curious schism in our national attitudes toward obesity: Only one in five kids had a parent who feared the boy or girl would grow up to be overweight as an adult."
"Put another way, assuming current trends persist, parents of 80 percent of American children think all these kids will somehow end up being among the lucky 31 percent of adults who are not overweight…"
Source: https://n.pr/Xs8KRB
from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.

-> According to a Mar. 1st The Atlantic article, "Using a hands-free phone that leaves both hands free to steer may make the physical act of turning left at an intersection easier to pull off, but it doesn’t make it any safer. That’s because attempting to make a left turn at a busy intersection taxes the brain more than turning right or driving straight through. And having a conversation at the same time further impairs the brain’s ability to focus on the road."
"These findings, (Brain Activity During Driving with Distraction: An Immersive fMRI Study) published in Frontiers of Human Neuroscience, provide neural evidence for why hands-free phone technology isn’t a good alternative to cell phone use. Instead, it distracts the brain when it most needs to be paying attention to the road… ‘Hands free’ not does mean ‘brains free,’ is how Canadian researchers put it…"
Source: https://bit.ly/16r9YNX
from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.

By Michael Harley, Auto Blog
The good news is that the average fuel fuel economy of the entire US light-duty fleet improved by 40 percent over the past four decades (increasing from 13 miles per gallon to 21.6 mpg). The bad news is that Americans drive more, and with fewer passengers in each vehicle, undercutting the impact of the fuel economy gains.
…
https://www.autoblog.com/2013/03/09/fuel-economy-gains-of-more-efficient-cars-undone-by-increased-tr/

B’ Spokes: Hit and runs make up ~20% of cyclists fatalities nation wide and in Maryland it seems too little is done to bring these people to justice. Even if you can identify the vehicle you can have an up hill battle if you can’t ID the driver. Maybe this device will help, a bit pricey but I do like the thought processes behind it.
https://mobile.theverge.com/2013/2/25/4029248/helmet-of-justice-uses-cameras-as-a-black-box-for-bicyclists